Human Types essay

2024

Brief: Write an essay to accompany the Human Types section of Monotype’s Re:Vision trends report. Human Types is our thought leadership experiment with AI and type design.

My roles:

  • Writing

  • Narrative direction on the broader project.

Project overview.

AI is everywhere, and type design is not immune. As part of our broader Re:Vision project, our most senior type designers grappled with the role AI will play in the future of their discipline. Will AI eventually become competent enough to design full typefaces? Is there any value in a world awash in endless copies of copies of copies of fonts?

My essay, which was written to frame our experiments, states that humans should remain central to the act of type design, even if AI proves to be a useful tool in that work. Hardly a controversial take, but one worth stating repeatedly.

Screenshots below highlight some sections of the essay; please read the full essay here.